DEMYSTIFYING DESIGN

My parents' den circa 1982 in our former house--a massive Mediterranean number built in the 1920s--on Davis Islands in Tampa, Florida. The fabulous basket weave wallpaper and upholstery covered everything in the room, including the ceiling and doors. Brilliant! And look at the actual baskets scattered about, fabulous.

Gang:

John and I wish all of you a fabulous July 4th holiday… I plan to craft Betsy Ross-inspired blueberry and strawberry daiquiris at my parents’ beach house on Siesta Key, Florida and wave a few flags and stumble down to the beach for the fireworks display.

Meanwhile, I am still in Tampa and going through old photos. I came upon this slightly out-of-focus-but-still-wonderful snapshot of our den circa 1982. In a fabulous fit of whimsy, my parents covered their entire TV room in a jaunty basket weave-patterned wallpaper–including the ceiling and closet doors–and then painted the room’s molding banana leaf green. And then they stenciled giant banana leaves upon the floor. Amazing, huh? Can you see where much of my inspiration comes from? In this photo, my grandmother Gayle is holding court to the left while my aunt Phyllis holds my baby sister Jennifer Alice. The only thing missing are a few cocktails on a tray.

I am totally inspired by this vintage room, so watch for basket weave patterns to soon show up in the designs at Madcap Cottage.

Have a fabulous 4th!

Tags: Basket weave, Den, Interior Design, Jason Oliver Nixon, John Loecke, Madcap Cottage, Vintage design, Wallpaper a ceiling

This entry was posted on Monday, July 2nd, 2012 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Bar Cart, Color, Demystifying Design, Design, Design book, Design Guru, Design Lessons, Fabrics, Flooring, Furniture Recovering, How to Slipcover Furniture, Interior Design, New York Interior Designer, Paint, Paint the ceiling, Painted Furniture, Television, upholstery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.